Rest in peace Russell Means
Posted on 10/22/2012 8:42:05 AM PDT by Borges
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Russell Means, a former American Indian Movement activist who helped lead the 1973 uprising at Wounded Knee, reveled in stirring up attention and appeared in several Hollywood films, has died. He was 72.
Means died early Monday at his ranch in in Porcupine, S.D., Oglala Sioux Tribe spokeswoman Donna Solomon said. Means, a Wanblee native who grew up in the San Francisco area, announced in August 2011 that he had developed inoperable throat cancer.
He told The Associated Press he was forgoing mainstream medical treatments in favor of traditional American Indian remedies and alternative treatments away from his home on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Means was an early leader of AIM and led its armed occupation of the South Dakota town of Wounded Knee, a 71-day siege that included several gunbattles with federal officers. He was often embroiled in controversy, partly because of AIM's alleged involvement in the 1975 slaying of Annie Mae Aquash. But Means was also known for his role in the movie "The Last of the Mohicans" and had run unsuccessfully for the Libertarian nomination for president in 1988.
AIM was founded in the late 1960s to protest the U.S. government's treatment of Native Americans and demand the government honor its treaties with Indian tribes. Means told the AP in 2011 that before AIM, there had been no advocate on a national or international scale for American Indians, and that Native Americans were ashamed of their heritage.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
A legend in his own eyes and the world doesn’t change one whit.
Rest in peace Russell Means
Something happened to him after he got in with the Dennis Banks / A.I.M. / ultraleft crowd. He lost some of that good heart, but not all of it. They never could turn him into the same type of America hating scum which they were.
I'm glad I knew Russell before he got in with that crowd.
Note to self...when confronted by a health crisis do *not* seek help from an OsamaObamaCare death panel or embrace traditional American Indian remedies.
I’m hoping that Obama will be the last of the Bohicans after this election.
I sure liked him in the role of Uncas. Perhaps that was a glimpse of the non-political man?
Despite the other comments, I would add that others who knew him in the early years agree with you. I know a man who spent several years in the early 70s teaching sports programs on the reservation would would be the first to do so. It is possible for good people to engage in bad politics - Sen. George McGovern was another example. It is sad when radical elements turn either side into a hate-fest, and worth recognizing those who manage to some extent to remain above that level. RIP.
lol
***...a former American Indian Movement activist who helped lead the 1973 uprising at Wounded Knee,****
I remember those days. After they took over and burned the church at Wounded Knee, lots of bearded hippies joined them for a while.
One of the Indians was photographed holding an AK-47 years before they were allowed to be imported in the US.
The problems spread clear to Farmington NM where there was lots of trouble when the Fairchild Plant at Gallup had a layoff and the Indians then occupied the building in protest. Some local Navajos were oppposed to the outsider Indians coming into the area causing problems while others joined in the takeover. There was a riot that year 1974 during a parade in downtown Farmington caused by the Indians.
The Oklahoma authorities stopped a possible take over of YALE, Oklahoma when they arrested several armed non local Indians who claimed they were only going elk hunting. Elke hunting in the middle of Oklahoma in the summer? I don’t think so as there were no elk within several hundred miles.
Many other areas also had Indian problems that year with several whites killed for no reason.
Will they bury his heart at Wounded Knee?..............
There were also the Indians who took over Alcatraz for awhile. That was interesting.
“Something happened to him after he got in with the Dennis Banks / A.I.M. / ultraleft crowd. “
That’s what ‘community organizers’ do...........
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.